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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

3D Vision fix for Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, containing multiple hotkeys to toggle post processing effects or use presets with combinations of them. And also the possibility of disabling black bars in cutscenes, as shown in the screenshot above.

Very important update (2018-04-28): fix updated with 3Dmigoto 1.3.10 and with a lot of important fixes. Including haloing fixes for all special effects (they aren't disabled anymore), a lot of HUD improvements (no clipping when it's at depth, hunt and boss messages at the same depth as the HUD), a new hotkey (F5), fixed lens flares, an improvement to some R3 presets, etc.

Small update: reuploaded the fix with 3Dmigoto 1.3.8. Now I allow backwards cycling of presets if you hold the shift key.

Quite important update: reuploaded the fix with 3Dmigoto 1.3.4. Also included the "3D_commands.reg" file that you need to execute to not have broken shadows and HUD.

Another small update (2018-02-21): reuploaded the fix with a new preset for the "9"/"XB_RIGHT_THUMB" hotkey, needed for some caves.

Small update (2018-02-12): reuploaded the fix with scissor clipping enabled, to avoid text overflowing in the HUD and menus.

Fixed
- HUD elements that had depth are now at their correct position and won't flicker (interaction icons, life bars, level transition light balls...).
- Heatwaves, save crystals, and water in some specific locations.
- Particle effects (for example, when you land an attack).
- Haloing problems (spells, enemy auras, cutscenes, etc).

Known issues
- Some cutscene smoke effects will be at wrong depth, for conflict reasons (too much convergence dependant).
- Same thing for text story explanations between chapters (the ones with a book in the background and a narration voice), as well as hunting posters, the title screen, and the pause menu background image. Automatic convergence will make it readable.
- Some locations need a different value for the icons/bars and waves/water fix. Use the "9"/"R3" hotkey when you feel it's needed.

Installation
- Download this file and extract its contents in the "FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE\x64" folder, where "FFXII_TZA.exe" is.
- Execute the "3D_commands.reg" file and let it make changes to the registry. You need this to not have broken shadows in 3D. What this file does is add alt+numpad keys the ability to modify stereo cutoff settings ingame. For some reason this is needed.
- Launch the game and let the fix overwrite profile settings. It's absolutely needed.
- Use the hotkeys that better fit your graphics tastes.
- If you get the Nvidia red text warning in fullscreen mode, set "refresh_rate=120" in "d3dx.ini" to force 120Hz.

Hotkeys (the normal numbers above the letters, not the numpad keys)
- 1: convergence presets. You can delete some of them, because there may be too many.
- 2: HUD depth presets.
- 3: HUD toggle. Not disabled by default.
- 4: cutscene black bars toggle. Not disabled by default. I absolutely recommend using this, because the game hides geometry and content behind them, even in prerendered cutscenes. It even disables all letterboxing in ultrawide resolutions. Subtitles are shown correctly, and the only "drawback" is that is disables the translucent background of NPC dialog text boxes, and black bars in some menus.
- 5: tone mapping toggle. Not disabled by default.
- 6: SMAA/FXAA toggle. Not disabled by default. The game forces you to use one of them, so with this hotkey you can disable them.
- 7: blurriness toggle. Not disabled by default.
- 8: brightness/ extra bloom multiplier presets. x1 by default.
- 9 or XB_RIGHT_THUMB: cycles the icons and heatwaves/water calculations through three different values. It's needed in the Gramsythe Waterway (one click) and some caves (two clicks), for example. You may notice when you need it. The default value works for the majority of locations. If this hotkey annoys you because it's in a controller button, go to the "[Key11]" section in "d3dx.ini" and delete it or comment it.
- 0: four presets with combinations of the "5", "6", "7" and "8" hotkeys. Explained in the section below, and by default the game isn't modified.
- F5: press it once to disable normal mapping. Press it again to also disable specular reflections (except for characters). The third press returns it to normal. With this hotkey you can gain some fps and give the game a look more similar to the PS2.

Combined color presets
With the "0" hotkey, you can cycle through three custom presets, and then the default values as the last one. Description of each one:

- Default state of the game, and fourth press of the hotkey: screenshot.
- First press (no SMAA/FXAA, no blurriness, bloom at 120%): screenshot.
- Second press (no SMAA/FXAA, no tone mapping, no blurriness): screenshot.
- Third press (no SMAA/FXAA, no tone mapping, no blurriness, bloom at 112%): screenshot.

If you want to enable SMAA/FXAA for them, open "d3dx.ini", go to the "[Key8]" section, and change the "w = 0, 0, 0, 1" line to "w = 1, 1, 1, 1".

The second press preset looks the closest to the PS2 version, with all color modifications disabled. But if you ask what's best, in my opinion it would be either "first press" or "second press". Each of them has pros and cons. If you forget what keys you've pressed, just press F10 to revert everything to its default state.

Automatic convergence
The fix will force low convergence (a good value I tested) when the black bars shader is detected. All custscenes that would display black bars (even if you disable them with a hotkey) will use this. If you want to disable automatic convergence, delete or comment the "[PresetCutscenes]" and "[ShaderOverridePresetBlackBars]" blocks in "d3dx.ini".

If you liked the fix and want to contribute for more future fixes, you can donate to this PayPal account: masterotakusuko@gmail.com

Glad you like it :). Keep checking this post the rest of the week at least. There are some more adjustments I have to make for some locations (icons and particles. I found a new type of location that needs different numbers for the fix).

It's poasible, yes. I'm on my phone, but you need to open "d3dx.ini" and search for a commented linr that starts with ";run" and contains "SBS as part of its name. Uncomment it, and then press F11 to cycle through different 3D modes while you are ingame.

Are you sure it's because of this mod and not because of DS4Windows or some Steam input thing? I have seen both types of icons with my dualshock 4, and honestly being in Xbox mode with DS4Windows is the option I prefer because it has rumble. Sadly you can't choose icons manually, and I tried getting the button textures to do a mod but they are generated in some other way.

I figured out what cause the Xbone buttons to appear: I had the controller assistant enabled in Steam Big Picture. It wasn't DS4's fault since I wasn't using it for that game anyway. Now the only problem I have left are those spasming black stripes where the black bars in cutscenes would usually be.

Also the shadows on the bottom of the screen are flickering sometimes. I followed the installation very closely and executed the reg file and clicked Yes when starting the game. The toggling of the graphics and HUD options works without a problem, though.

Now that's strange. What shadows? If you mean the ambient occlusion bug that you uncover in cutscenes when you disable black bars, it's normal. If it's character shadows, it shouldn't happen. I have tested the fix in multiple resolutions.

I only get those spasming black stripes when I disable the black bars during cutscenes by pressing 4. They're at the exact position where the black bars would usually be. Is there really no way of getting rid of them? Maybe turning off Ambient Occlusion or something like that? Because those spasming stripes are very annoying and I really want to play the game without those gigantic black bars during cutscenes.

Ok, thanks for the tip that finally fixed my problem! Turning off Ambient Occlusion doesn't really have a noticeable impact on the graphics in this game if you're not comparing them side by side. Now I can enjoy the game at 4k60 with no black bars and PS4 button prompts. Thanks to your mod and your help this is now the definitive edition of the game! ^^

I have a big problem... everthing worked at the beginning but now i have a strange problem with ff12 .... ever game i want to play in 3d vision still works without problem, only when i start ff12 the game dont open in fullscreen mode and i cant change it in game either... evertime i try it switch back to borderless or windowed mode.. all other games work only ff12 dont open fullscreen mode

Experiment with getting it into 3D Vision, without any fix installed. Without 3D working first, the fix can't work.

On Win10, they have this stupid idea of changing game play, so you need to "disable full-screen optimizations" in Properties for the exe. Their idea of optimized is to force everything to borderless and disable full-screen exclusive.

If that doesn't seem to be it, try DDU for your drivers. Sometimes they get corrupted in bizarre ways.